In my testing, I’ve found that applying simple specialist techniques can uncover critical risks that might otherwise slip through. You don’t need to be an expert to make a difference; simple checks in areas like accessibility, performance, and security can quickly improve coverage and reduce the risk of critical bugs reaching production.
For instance, I frequently use keyboard navigation on applications and notice that I cannot perform a key action without using a mouse. This is a real problem for keyboard-only users, and it’s something we could fix before release. Simple checks like this don’t take long, but they can have a big impact.
Taking time to learn and practise these techniques can help you improve coverage and add more value to your testing.
Your Task
Choose one specialist testing technique (e.g. from accessibility, performance, or security) and apply it to any application. It could be a product you’re working on or a public test site. See what new risks you can uncover that your usual checks might miss.
Accessibility
- Use keyboard navigation to check if all elements can be reached without a mouse.
Example: Can you reach the checkout button without tabbing through unrelated elements? - Check if images have alt text using a browser extension like Images On/Off.
Example: Turn off images — do key banners or product images have meaningful text descriptions? - Test colour contrast with a contrast checker and simulate colour blindness to see how it affects visibility.
Example: Does a pale grey button disappear against its background for some colour blindness types?
Frontend performance
- Use Google Lighthouse or Chrome DevTools Performance Panel to measure load speed, interactivity, and layout stability (Core Web Vitals: LCP, INP, CLS).
Example: Does the main banner take too long to load, or does content shift when ads appear? - Compare your local results to field data (if available).
Example: Does our site feel fast locally, but field data shows it’s much slower for users on 3G connections?
Backend performance
- Use k6 Studio to simulate multiple users completing a common flow, like placing an order, and see how the system handles it. Example: Does the site slow down or return errors when 20 users try to check out at once?
Security
- Try URL manipulation: can you access a page you shouldn’t by changing a query parameter or order ID?
Example: Change/order/123to/order/124— can you see someone else’s order - Test for XSS by adding a basic script tag in a query parameter and see how the system responds. Example: Add
<script>alert('test')</script>to a search query — does a pop-up appear?
Share your results
Post a short summary of the technique you tried, what you tested, and what you discovered in reply to this post. Add a screenshot or other evidence if you can.
Once you’ve posted, read through other replies; you might spot common issues or pick up a new technique to try next time.
I look forward to seeing what you uncover and learning from the techniques and findings you share.
